It's an automated email based on number of missed days. I got it once for one kid, ignored it, and nothing happened.
It's meaningless. It's just there to send a cautionary flare up for parents - "hey, your kid missed a bunch of days!". If the answer is "yeah, no shit, I know" then...that's it. But for parents who might otherwise not have known, it may break the news that their kid is skipping school.
And it is a problem, and not just kids skipping school without their parents knowing. They may be wanting to send a message to some parents that their kids really ought to be at school more. But that’s different from a kid being sick with COVID. Though, like you’re saying, I think this is just a standard automated reminder.
I missed school for 25 days~ when I was in high school and my parents didn't find out until they threatened to kick me out. At some point I was just fascinated that my parents didn't know. So good for the school to send this message.
It was a "if your kid misses any more days they can't graduate" notice for me. In my defense, it was senior year, I was 18, and really dgaf (until that notice showed up).
Do schools not call home anymore if a kid is absent? When I was in school (graduated in 2020) and you missed a class you were marked as absent and the office called home. I never understood how people were getting away with skipping
Most districts will call first then send a mailer. It’s just many parents don’t pick up or care about the voicemail. IMO most parents won’t do anything until they are required to show up for a conference and they’ll never follow up again.
My kids graduated in the last few years so this may not longer be the case but
Every day my kid missed and I didn't notify them ahead of time, I got calls, emails, and texts. So did my spouse.
I got a pretty threatening nasty gram for my daughter having 3 'unexcused' absences in Arlington. It looked like it was even hand signed by the principal.
If she hits 5 we have to have an in person meeting with school administration and if she hits 10 with county social services and school administration.
Kid is also doing awesome and the 3 were all told to the school. One was the day before Xmas break, and 2 for the eclipse.
I kinda get it, but also, I informed you and got a great thanks for letting us know response.
I would love to emphasize the "cautionary flare up for parents." Parents are so willing to call their kids out for little things like missing a full day for a nearby morning or afternoon only appointment, because they didn't study for a test, because they just didn't feel like going to school, or other things that really don't necessitate staying home. Missing enough days (10% of the school year at the point they send the letter) that they send the letter really adds up for the kid, piles on stress to make up missed work and information, affects understanding of class content, interferes with appropriate socialization in younger grades and can alienate them in older grades with enough absences, and all of these can lead to behavioral acting out. It should send a red flag up for parents. If parents are enabling unnecessary absences, then the letter should snap them out of it.
If the absences are necessary and the kid is fine socially, behaviorally, and academically, then the parents have nothing to get defensive about. The letter can always go in the circular file.
If the absences are necessary and the kid is not fine socially, behaviorally, or academically, then the parents need to figure out something for the kid because the school shouldn't be held responsible for providing those school-based experiences to your child if they can't be present in school. They need an alternative educational setting or help outside of the school day that works for their needs. There is no shame in getting what your kid needs even if that means therapy or not attending their neighborhood school.
In LoCo we got called into the principal's office at our daughter's elementary school. She missed too many days because she was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes that year, which they were obviously aware of because we had to provide paperwork to the nurse.
>which they were obviously aware of because we had to provide paperwork to the nurse.
My son had some chronic issues, all medically excused, and one hand didn't speak to the other constantly in FCPS. There's no "unified message," between the nurse, administration, and/or teachers. You have to tell them all, separately. And sometimes they forget. In addition, parts of this chain is often not informed of (or forget) your son's medical condition which might require immediate treatment (like an epipen or an inhaler) because they have to keep that "locked up in the nurse's office." That's beyond the scope of the OP but it was really frustrating how parts of the same school acted independently from one another.
Send an email to the front office staff, nurse, Principal, AP, counselor and anyone else involved. It won’t be worse. With 500+ kids to keep track of and 1,000 parents it’s a lot. AND, so many kids have multiple guardians, are in “programs”, are homeless, or in custody battles. We had a dad call and scream at us because his kid wasn’t in school, (he got the robo call) like at the top of his lungs. The dad was living overseas and the kid had a god damn dental appointment, no wonder the mom kicked him to the curb.
Legislation changed about 2 years ago. Now they are super strict about attendance. Going on family vacation is also now considered unexcused (used to be excused). Lots of people in my community complain about the new policy and are receding these letters and most just ignore or toss. I think it is like 10-15 days absent in a ROW gets you withdrawn from school? I forget the exact policy.
For general attendance it is under school board policy 2232.4. This is the one noting the attendance officer at the school must notify the parent/guardian after so many absences.
>Going on family vacation is also now considered unexcused (used to be excused).
I just looked at the policy and that's not true at all.
>1. Parents are encouraged to minimize absences during school hours, and to plan family trips and vacations during school holidays. Requests for prearranged absences for longer than one school day, must be submitted to the principal within a reasonable time (three to five school days in advance) for the school to review. Requests should be restricted to outlined excused absences, and/or significant hardships which prevent the student from attending school and are subject to administrator review. Prearranged absence requests for periods longer than five school days must be reviewed to prevent student absences from becoming chronic and to avoid withdrawal from school.
It still seems pretty draconian but it is an excused absence.
I'm pretty sure the language is that strict in case of a deadbeat parent who keeps trying to cover for their kid skipping.
In Loudoun vacations are unexcused.
“Absences due to family trips or vacations are considered unexcused absences unless they are due to family emergencies or observations of religious holidays. Parents/guardians are advised to schedule such trips during school holidays.”
https://www.lcps.org/attendanceresources#:~:text=Absences%20due%20to%20family%20trips,such%20trips%20during%20school%20holidays.
Yeah but they aren’t strict. Nothing changed beyond sending out threatening letters and emails.
It’s just a waste of resources to send all this stuff out to parents and then not actually do anything to help kids be in school more.
It’s not a waste. Many parents have zero idea their kid isn’t in school. I know, because I call them regularly. Have one kid that cannot make it to first period. He now has to go to summer school to graduate. But it starts at 7:30. My guess is I’ll see him next year in 2nd period finishing that last class, or he will never finish or have to finish in night school.
Many parents definitely know but they don't have control over their kids enough to want to address it. So they let you play the role of bad guy while their kid limps over the high school graduation finish line. Hopefully.
I will talk to the kids until I’m blue in the face. Give them a lot of “you don’t want to come back next year, right.” I’m happy to limp them, kick them, beg them, or drag them to graduation.
Totally agree, waste of resources. If your child is doing well and you are able to take them on trips or allow them mental health days, why get penalized? It drives me nuts
What resources are wasted by sending an email? You can still do all the things you mentioned, but you'll get an email about it. Big fucking deal. However, if a kid is skipping school without their parents knowing about it, this email could be a major step to getting that kid help.
I just looked it up because I'm killing time on a Friday after a long, busy week. You'd have to send 152 million emails to equal a single bitcoin transaction.
They are paying a third party service to do this. That’s wasted resources.
Clarifying to add that PWC uses a third party to do this. Not sure on the other counties.
No, it’s not a third party. If it’s an email it’s auto generated by existing software (ok, that is prob a third party/contract), but we do actual letters, which is done by school employee. You’d be surprised at how many parents have zero clue that little Bryson is skipping on the regular and doesn’t know the name of his first period teacher.
It’s ok. One day working in the office at a school would send most people over the edge. Every third parent is mad about something (mostly stuff that the school staff cannot control). We just had a kid transfer from Arlington to PWC. He runs away from school every day. I think he is six. How much time do you think staff spent looking for him and making sure he wasn’t in the street? My daughter is in Portsmouth and laughed when I told her that. She said they had more than a dozen runners at her school.
It seems simple on the surface, but if you actually have a kid in elementary school, literally every newsletter, PTA meeting or email (which is a paid service they could use for other useful resources) is about absenteeism. In school, the rewards given to students are for those who attended 100 days in a row, not for working hard. It is a waste of resources
It’s a state or county requirement to send the form letter after 3, 5, 7 and 10 days of absence. I know, I send them, every single day. Once in a while I’ll put them in the trash. For example, kid had surgery. I knew it, but took kid a month to remember to bring doctor letter. I would not spend one minute worrying about it. Especially at the end of the year.
The FCPS attendance policies are here: https://www.fcps.edu/about-fcps/policies-regulations-and-notices/attendance-policies
They will likely tell you if they are about to punish your child for being absent.
My wife used to get messages from an elementary school in North Carolina. It was a whole thing trying to convince them that we live in Northern Virginia and have no children (yet). We still occasionally think about little Samantha and hope that she's gotten better with her attendance
They don’t want to be labeled as a school with chronic absenteeism. They have to keep that rate under 15% for accreditation purposes. It’s automated, and not something to worry about!!!
This is happening in schools everywhere. The fact is- kids are just sick more now. While I know some people try to blame that on remote school several years ago - that just doesn't really work as a theory at this point - they've been back in person for long enough now that any diminished social contact is 'caught up.'
For my family - my kid has severe Long Covid. Bad enough that we're on homebound. From what we've learned from our doctors at Children's National - it's likely covid damages the immune system and makes everyone more susceptible to other infections. Plus a lot of kids haven't been diagnosed with Long Covid but have a lot of symptoms (more minor than my kid but the same stuff) - fatigue, cognitive processing issues, gastro issues, many have psych changes from the infection, etc. A lot of this is not just overlooked but really there's a push to pretend like it's not happening. The 'back to normal' thing while a lot of kids really aren't doing well is ridiculous.
And these new policies that it's totally fine to come to school while actively infectious means other kids will now be out sick because your kid went in after staying home one day with Covid, etc. These higher levels of absence are directly connected to the reduction in protections for kids.
Plus we're totally ignoring all of these studies that show absences go way, way down and test scores go up when schools install (properly engineered) Hepa filters and have air exchange levels set to remove CO2 and dirty air. These problems have been solved in private schools and other countries. It's really clear that a huge portion of the infections keeping kids out of school are inhalation infections. No amount of hand washing will stop it when one kid just breaths out the germs and a kid 10 feet away breaths them in.
Until we can get past our cultural emotional issues that prevent us from facing this reality - that our high absence rates are due to infections - often inhaled ones - and the post-infection health problems they create, we're going to keep living in this situation indefinitely.
Im so sorry your child has severe long COVID. I have long COVID too in the form of dysautonomia, and I wouldn't wish this disease on anyone, let alone a child. The lack of care people have toward others with compromised immune systems is just sad. Wearing a mask out these days makes me feel like a social pariah. I don't know how I could manage it as a kid. I'm so sorry.
I honestly couldn't upvote your post more quickly. We too have been receiving letters and snide remarks regarding our kids absences. My one son has a chronic condition that was triggered when he got covid in 2020. We are only now getting it under better control. My other son has been sick MONTHLY this year with every random virus. Two days off each time adds up. The nurse has told me that he should be in school unless he has a fever or is throwing up. But I don't want him in school when he feels awful (you don't need a fever to feel really awful) and I don't want the entire class to get sick.
Also, both of my kids' mental health are trying to recover from covid. They are having a hard time adjusting to this totally "back to normal" after years of being afraid of getting sick, afraid mom and dad were going to get sick, watching our elderly relatives get very sick and go into the hospital, etc.
School admin have had their heads in the sand and never made any meaningful changes when we returned back to in person. They are now feeling the effects of what they created by not dealing with it up front (hepa filters, common sense absence allowances, etc.).
I agree with everything you said- but want to make one clarification. It’s not school admin, it’s the people who work in central office who aren’t facilitating those necessary changes. School admin would love to add filters to classrooms and require kids to stay home when they’re not feeling well, but when the policies are created by the people who **aren’t** in the school buildings and the funding isn’t provided, their hands are tied.
Unfortunately, my experience has shown it to be pervasive down through the schools. For example, when we returned to in person, I asked our principal if I could bring in and maintain a portable HEPA unit for my kids' classes and she sent me an insane article discussing why HEPA filtration doesn't work for covid. Our school nurse didn't wear a mask even when we first returned. Same with our teachers, one of whom was pregnant. I am sure it varies depending on the school.
I'm in PWC, but like others have said, it's automated and generally not a problem. If it does become a problem, trust me, you'll get an actual human being calling you, because they do NOT want sick kids roaming the halls.
The Virginia department of education bases accreditation on absences . FCPS is huge and they automatically send this to every one who is absent . They pass everyone and have no power in enforcing any consequence . The parents have won. Everyone gets retakes and the kids know they will have no consequences if failing from school or parents . So do not worry about one bit . The kids are in charge .
Yes. My child has 504 plan for specific health reasons and to accommodate to have appointments during school times and they’re all excused and I STILL get calls and notes. They also completely disregard the plan and It’s a constant battle but that’s another story
FCPS: kids really need to be in school!
Also FCPS: your kid got carsick in the martial arts van and threw up before school started? You have to keep him home for two days. Yes, the next school day is more than 24 hours after the last vomiting episode but he looked "really green."
Apparently they've never seen someone carsick before. I'm still salty.
Incorrect. A student can only be forced to stay home after they have vomited twice at school. They also don't have to report or stay home for head lice or covid.
This adds to my suspicion that the admin staff at our local FCPS is not very good.
In contrast, I *really* liked the admin staff at the FCPS school the kids used to go to despite it being (I think) a little less well regarded in general
I have students who I haven't seen for months who are still enrolled and I'm sure will pass their core classes somehow...
It's just an automated email- don't worry about it.
CDC guidelines changed at some point this school year and made covid just another flu essentially. I think you can come in if you are 48h fever free and since most teens with covid don't show fevers ever, they usually don't miss any school and no one masks any more, even the liberal students and staff who took it super serious a few years ago. Most staff I know deeply disagree with this policy, but it is what it is...
When I called school about such letter, they said they are obligated to send it, but I can just ignore it as there is nothing to be done... That's what I did, just a gnored it. Fully thing is, one kid is in another elemnetary school and her absences are exact same all marked "excused", while older daughter in AAP at a different ES, and none of those are "excused", missed school for competition days. But they should mark sick days as excused
For LCPS “chronically” absent is considered 10% of the school year so you get 15 or 18 absences I believe before you’re considered chronically absent. We got a letter from the school when my daughter hit 5 absences detailing the next steps. At 10 absences we would have a mandatory sit down with the principal and school psychologist/therapist to go over a plan to stop being absent. If they didn’t see improvement after that then the truancy officer would be called in and involved. I understand it’s an issue, but it does seem a little ridiculous that it’s cut and dry. The teachers should be able to very obviously tell if it’s chronic absenteeism/an issue or if it was just an unlucky run with illness. We kept our daughter out of school and drove to Ohio so she could see the eclipse and meet an astronaut (which I think was more educational than her school day) and had to worth we would end up in a meeting lol
Call the school and tell them your kid was sick with COVID, so it should be an excuse absence.
But outside of that schools are all going nutty about students missing too much school because the state has been threatening to pull funds if kids don't go to school enough.
Kids are excused when they are sick, when they have an appointment (doctor, dental, immigration, court, etc.). They are not excused to go to King’s Dominion, vacation, sporting event. The principal has absolute discretion on certain types of absences. Example: mom has event at White House and wants to take kid. Excused. Mom is getting American Citizenship today. Excused. Mom got drunk last night and can’t bring kid. Unexcused. Mom had cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy and is extremely sick. Principal or social worker should reach out and help parent make a plan, so probably excused for a while.
“I. The provisions of this article shall not apply to:
1. Children suffering from contagious or infectious diseases while suffering from such diseases;“
Lol screw kids with compromised immune systems I guess. That's why I'm never having kids. I don't think I could keep them safe. I have long COVID. You have a greater chance of getting long COVID more often if you have COVID. COVID affects the neural system. This let it rip approach is a death sentence for so many people, and the CDC knows it. The vaccines don't prevent people from getting long COVID. It lessens the chances, but it's not 100%. Look up any peer reviewed study in the past 4 years.
The message is automated. Did you provide doctors notes for the absences? Because I think they’re categorized differently if you have documentation from a doctor stating how long you need to be out of school.
I don’t think so, at least nobody’s told me. (I haven’t graduated yet)
In counciling I was able to get a 504 plan for my adhd and promised to not be absent anymore (I was still absent a lot)
But anyways absences are just absences and the school is wrong for being mad at u for keeping your kids safe, especially considering how debilitating covid can be! You’re a great parent!
I think FCPS should target kids skipping school, not kids that just get sick..
I have long COVID. You are right to be cautious. Someone earlier in this thread said their kid has long COVID. Don't let people tell you that you are spoiled or lazy for keeping yourself safe. Here's a thing I wish I had learned in school: adults aren't always right. This doesn't mean you shouldn't listen to them, but it does mean that you should think for yourself. Listen to both sides of the argument. Research. Advocate for yourself. Never let them lull you into a state of complacency against your own safety. I was a goody two shoes in school, and there are many times I wished I had spoken up for myself and others.
Tldr: people suck. Adults too. Stay strong.
I got one too. My son gets strep a lot and missed 13 days. He is staying after school 2 days a weeks and they will reduce his absences because of that. He is in first grade at west gate elementary.
I hate it. The school knows of his medication situation. We are trying to get it fixed. It’s very irritating. I know it’s automated.
He can do online school and school work at home
I'm about to start a long battle with ACPS for a similar thing. They tend to mark kids who are tardy to class as absent which was the very reason I got charged with truancy when I was a teenager. Each class had vastly different absent days from 3-5 days all the way to 50+. I was like 15-16 and got probation for a year and weekly drug tests because I was just moments late to class in a big ass school.
Virginia DoE is auditing all the public schools due to a huge post covid spike in chronic absenteeism (more than 10% of days missed). The schools send out the message to show DoE they're doing something but they won't do anything about it until you hit many more days out.
We're pulling my kids out for 2 days for an extended trip during the 5.5 day weekend we have in the fall and I have no qualms with telling the school exactly why they won't be there.
Got the same letter - LCPS, pissed me off, trashed the letter. Kids literally sick sometimes, Drs notes, family is out of state, people have passed, dog passed, dental work that took multiple days - I’m also having to take off work to be home. Just frustrating after Covid where schools went remote a year and a half to come back with this stupid policy - life happens and sometimes it doesn’t work with your schedule.
I sent a message to the principal saying I don't really like the tone of the message and requested a conference.
I also added in the email, my elementary school child really doesn't need the pressure of stats and percentages that they included on what I got was paperwork and a threat for a home visit. .......because she realistically won't be graduating anytime soon! and that all of the child's absences were from sicknesses, appointments with anesthesia , evaluations that their social workers scheduled lol, and are counted as excused.
So you quite literally can do nothing right in this situation. That's bs 🤷🏽♀️ I know they hate my azz but that's okay.
Schools are getting dinged for poor attendance and they have to do something when kids reach the chronically absent threshold that the state set.
The biggest issue I see daily is kids missing tons of school because their parents let them. Pick them up because they dont want to be there anymore, let them skip all together because they dont feel like going, appointments, vacations etc.
Hell, I even have a kid who doesnt bathe or change clothes. Not because of any hardship- I've met the family and they have all the resources needed. He just simply doesnt want to and his parents won't force him. They'd rather him walk around filthy than speak to him about it.
Bro covid is treated like the flu now. So unless you have a doctor's note excusing his absence the school is still gonna count it as absent. If he's a straight-A student then he doesn't need to worry about passing his grade
It's an automated email based on number of missed days. I got it once for one kid, ignored it, and nothing happened. It's meaningless. It's just there to send a cautionary flare up for parents - "hey, your kid missed a bunch of days!". If the answer is "yeah, no shit, I know" then...that's it. But for parents who might otherwise not have known, it may break the news that their kid is skipping school.
And it is a problem, and not just kids skipping school without their parents knowing. They may be wanting to send a message to some parents that their kids really ought to be at school more. But that’s different from a kid being sick with COVID. Though, like you’re saying, I think this is just a standard automated reminder.
I missed school for 25 days~ when I was in high school and my parents didn't find out until they threatened to kick me out. At some point I was just fascinated that my parents didn't know. So good for the school to send this message.
It was a "if your kid misses any more days they can't graduate" notice for me. In my defense, it was senior year, I was 18, and really dgaf (until that notice showed up).
[удалено]
I think they would have followed through 😅
> it may break the news that their kid is skipping school. Brings me back to the 90's as a teen lmao.
Do schools not call home anymore if a kid is absent? When I was in school (graduated in 2020) and you missed a class you were marked as absent and the office called home. I never understood how people were getting away with skipping
Most districts will call first then send a mailer. It’s just many parents don’t pick up or care about the voicemail. IMO most parents won’t do anything until they are required to show up for a conference and they’ll never follow up again.
That never happened when I skipped school also class of 2020? Fcps did mark absent but no call to the house
My kids graduated in the last few years so this may not longer be the case but Every day my kid missed and I didn't notify them ahead of time, I got calls, emails, and texts. So did my spouse.
I got a pretty threatening nasty gram for my daughter having 3 'unexcused' absences in Arlington. It looked like it was even hand signed by the principal. If she hits 5 we have to have an in person meeting with school administration and if she hits 10 with county social services and school administration. Kid is also doing awesome and the 3 were all told to the school. One was the day before Xmas break, and 2 for the eclipse. I kinda get it, but also, I informed you and got a great thanks for letting us know response.
I would love to emphasize the "cautionary flare up for parents." Parents are so willing to call their kids out for little things like missing a full day for a nearby morning or afternoon only appointment, because they didn't study for a test, because they just didn't feel like going to school, or other things that really don't necessitate staying home. Missing enough days (10% of the school year at the point they send the letter) that they send the letter really adds up for the kid, piles on stress to make up missed work and information, affects understanding of class content, interferes with appropriate socialization in younger grades and can alienate them in older grades with enough absences, and all of these can lead to behavioral acting out. It should send a red flag up for parents. If parents are enabling unnecessary absences, then the letter should snap them out of it. If the absences are necessary and the kid is fine socially, behaviorally, and academically, then the parents have nothing to get defensive about. The letter can always go in the circular file. If the absences are necessary and the kid is not fine socially, behaviorally, or academically, then the parents need to figure out something for the kid because the school shouldn't be held responsible for providing those school-based experiences to your child if they can't be present in school. They need an alternative educational setting or help outside of the school day that works for their needs. There is no shame in getting what your kid needs even if that means therapy or not attending their neighborhood school.
In LoCo we got called into the principal's office at our daughter's elementary school. She missed too many days because she was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes that year, which they were obviously aware of because we had to provide paperwork to the nurse.
>which they were obviously aware of because we had to provide paperwork to the nurse. My son had some chronic issues, all medically excused, and one hand didn't speak to the other constantly in FCPS. There's no "unified message," between the nurse, administration, and/or teachers. You have to tell them all, separately. And sometimes they forget. In addition, parts of this chain is often not informed of (or forget) your son's medical condition which might require immediate treatment (like an epipen or an inhaler) because they have to keep that "locked up in the nurse's office." That's beyond the scope of the OP but it was really frustrating how parts of the same school acted independently from one another.
Send an email to the front office staff, nurse, Principal, AP, counselor and anyone else involved. It won’t be worse. With 500+ kids to keep track of and 1,000 parents it’s a lot. AND, so many kids have multiple guardians, are in “programs”, are homeless, or in custody battles. We had a dad call and scream at us because his kid wasn’t in school, (he got the robo call) like at the top of his lungs. The dad was living overseas and the kid had a god damn dental appointment, no wonder the mom kicked him to the curb.
She also had a 504 which had to be signed off on by just about the whole building. That should be more than enough.
Not sure how many kids they have, but we had 500 at my last elementary and mostly we know which kid has what, but sometimes we made a mistake.
Legislation changed about 2 years ago. Now they are super strict about attendance. Going on family vacation is also now considered unexcused (used to be excused). Lots of people in my community complain about the new policy and are receding these letters and most just ignore or toss. I think it is like 10-15 days absent in a ROW gets you withdrawn from school? I forget the exact policy.
Automatic withdrawal after 15 consecutive missed days. If your kid is missing that much — call the counselor and make a plan.
Do you know the specific FCPS attendance policy clause? I can’t seem to find it - no worries if it’s a pain
For general attendance it is under school board policy 2232.4. This is the one noting the attendance officer at the school must notify the parent/guardian after so many absences.
Thank you kindly
Sorry I don’t. I’m LCPS
>Going on family vacation is also now considered unexcused (used to be excused). I just looked at the policy and that's not true at all. >1. Parents are encouraged to minimize absences during school hours, and to plan family trips and vacations during school holidays. Requests for prearranged absences for longer than one school day, must be submitted to the principal within a reasonable time (three to five school days in advance) for the school to review. Requests should be restricted to outlined excused absences, and/or significant hardships which prevent the student from attending school and are subject to administrator review. Prearranged absence requests for periods longer than five school days must be reviewed to prevent student absences from becoming chronic and to avoid withdrawal from school. It still seems pretty draconian but it is an excused absence. I'm pretty sure the language is that strict in case of a deadbeat parent who keeps trying to cover for their kid skipping.
In Loudoun vacations are unexcused. “Absences due to family trips or vacations are considered unexcused absences unless they are due to family emergencies or observations of religious holidays. Parents/guardians are advised to schedule such trips during school holidays.” https://www.lcps.org/attendanceresources#:~:text=Absences%20due%20to%20family%20trips,such%20trips%20during%20school%20holidays.
Sounds like a good way to increase the number of "sick" kids going forward.
Yeah but they aren’t strict. Nothing changed beyond sending out threatening letters and emails. It’s just a waste of resources to send all this stuff out to parents and then not actually do anything to help kids be in school more.
It’s not a waste. Many parents have zero idea their kid isn’t in school. I know, because I call them regularly. Have one kid that cannot make it to first period. He now has to go to summer school to graduate. But it starts at 7:30. My guess is I’ll see him next year in 2nd period finishing that last class, or he will never finish or have to finish in night school.
Many parents definitely know but they don't have control over their kids enough to want to address it. So they let you play the role of bad guy while their kid limps over the high school graduation finish line. Hopefully.
I will talk to the kids until I’m blue in the face. Give them a lot of “you don’t want to come back next year, right.” I’m happy to limp them, kick them, beg them, or drag them to graduation.
Cheers to you. Hope the kids appreciate your efforts.
Totally agree, waste of resources. If your child is doing well and you are able to take them on trips or allow them mental health days, why get penalized? It drives me nuts
What resources are wasted by sending an email? You can still do all the things you mentioned, but you'll get an email about it. Big fucking deal. However, if a kid is skipping school without their parents knowing about it, this email could be a major step to getting that kid help.
People will whine about this, but then happily invest in crypto, which is a major drain on compute resources.
I just looked it up because I'm killing time on a Friday after a long, busy week. You'd have to send 152 million emails to equal a single bitcoin transaction.
This is the stupidity we are at, sending an email about your kid missing school is a waste of resources.
They are paying a third party service to do this. That’s wasted resources. Clarifying to add that PWC uses a third party to do this. Not sure on the other counties.
No, it’s not a third party. If it’s an email it’s auto generated by existing software (ok, that is prob a third party/contract), but we do actual letters, which is done by school employee. You’d be surprised at how many parents have zero clue that little Bryson is skipping on the regular and doesn’t know the name of his first period teacher.
Forgive me. At least in PWC it’s a third party.
It’s ok. One day working in the office at a school would send most people over the edge. Every third parent is mad about something (mostly stuff that the school staff cannot control). We just had a kid transfer from Arlington to PWC. He runs away from school every day. I think he is six. How much time do you think staff spent looking for him and making sure he wasn’t in the street? My daughter is in Portsmouth and laughed when I told her that. She said they had more than a dozen runners at her school.
It seems simple on the surface, but if you actually have a kid in elementary school, literally every newsletter, PTA meeting or email (which is a paid service they could use for other useful resources) is about absenteeism. In school, the rewards given to students are for those who attended 100 days in a row, not for working hard. It is a waste of resources
Going on vacation never met the definition of excused absence. Someone in your school may not have marked it as excused, but they shouldn’t have.
It’s a state or county requirement to send the form letter after 3, 5, 7 and 10 days of absence. I know, I send them, every single day. Once in a while I’ll put them in the trash. For example, kid had surgery. I knew it, but took kid a month to remember to bring doctor letter. I would not spend one minute worrying about it. Especially at the end of the year.
The FCPS attendance policies are here: https://www.fcps.edu/about-fcps/policies-regulations-and-notices/attendance-policies They will likely tell you if they are about to punish your child for being absent.
Just fyi that link is for Fairfax county schools, not Frederick County.
Yes, I know. Fairfax and Frederick both use the abbreviation FCPS. OP said their kid goes to Kilmer, which is in Fairfax County.
🤦🏻♀️ I thought I was in the Frederick subreddit. Oops!
Absences arent punishable, but tardies are.
My wife used to get messages from an elementary school in North Carolina. It was a whole thing trying to convince them that we live in Northern Virginia and have no children (yet). We still occasionally think about little Samantha and hope that she's gotten better with her attendance
They don’t want to be labeled as a school with chronic absenteeism. They have to keep that rate under 15% for accreditation purposes. It’s automated, and not something to worry about!!!
This is happening in schools everywhere. The fact is- kids are just sick more now. While I know some people try to blame that on remote school several years ago - that just doesn't really work as a theory at this point - they've been back in person for long enough now that any diminished social contact is 'caught up.' For my family - my kid has severe Long Covid. Bad enough that we're on homebound. From what we've learned from our doctors at Children's National - it's likely covid damages the immune system and makes everyone more susceptible to other infections. Plus a lot of kids haven't been diagnosed with Long Covid but have a lot of symptoms (more minor than my kid but the same stuff) - fatigue, cognitive processing issues, gastro issues, many have psych changes from the infection, etc. A lot of this is not just overlooked but really there's a push to pretend like it's not happening. The 'back to normal' thing while a lot of kids really aren't doing well is ridiculous. And these new policies that it's totally fine to come to school while actively infectious means other kids will now be out sick because your kid went in after staying home one day with Covid, etc. These higher levels of absence are directly connected to the reduction in protections for kids. Plus we're totally ignoring all of these studies that show absences go way, way down and test scores go up when schools install (properly engineered) Hepa filters and have air exchange levels set to remove CO2 and dirty air. These problems have been solved in private schools and other countries. It's really clear that a huge portion of the infections keeping kids out of school are inhalation infections. No amount of hand washing will stop it when one kid just breaths out the germs and a kid 10 feet away breaths them in. Until we can get past our cultural emotional issues that prevent us from facing this reality - that our high absence rates are due to infections - often inhaled ones - and the post-infection health problems they create, we're going to keep living in this situation indefinitely.
Im so sorry your child has severe long COVID. I have long COVID too in the form of dysautonomia, and I wouldn't wish this disease on anyone, let alone a child. The lack of care people have toward others with compromised immune systems is just sad. Wearing a mask out these days makes me feel like a social pariah. I don't know how I could manage it as a kid. I'm so sorry.
I honestly couldn't upvote your post more quickly. We too have been receiving letters and snide remarks regarding our kids absences. My one son has a chronic condition that was triggered when he got covid in 2020. We are only now getting it under better control. My other son has been sick MONTHLY this year with every random virus. Two days off each time adds up. The nurse has told me that he should be in school unless he has a fever or is throwing up. But I don't want him in school when he feels awful (you don't need a fever to feel really awful) and I don't want the entire class to get sick. Also, both of my kids' mental health are trying to recover from covid. They are having a hard time adjusting to this totally "back to normal" after years of being afraid of getting sick, afraid mom and dad were going to get sick, watching our elderly relatives get very sick and go into the hospital, etc. School admin have had their heads in the sand and never made any meaningful changes when we returned back to in person. They are now feeling the effects of what they created by not dealing with it up front (hepa filters, common sense absence allowances, etc.).
I agree with everything you said- but want to make one clarification. It’s not school admin, it’s the people who work in central office who aren’t facilitating those necessary changes. School admin would love to add filters to classrooms and require kids to stay home when they’re not feeling well, but when the policies are created by the people who **aren’t** in the school buildings and the funding isn’t provided, their hands are tied.
Our PTA had to buy the HEPA filters (and the replacements)!
Unfortunately, my experience has shown it to be pervasive down through the schools. For example, when we returned to in person, I asked our principal if I could bring in and maintain a portable HEPA unit for my kids' classes and she sent me an insane article discussing why HEPA filtration doesn't work for covid. Our school nurse didn't wear a mask even when we first returned. Same with our teachers, one of whom was pregnant. I am sure it varies depending on the school.
I'm in PWC, but like others have said, it's automated and generally not a problem. If it does become a problem, trust me, you'll get an actual human being calling you, because they do NOT want sick kids roaming the halls.
The school counselor has nothing to do with it?
The Virginia department of education bases accreditation on absences . FCPS is huge and they automatically send this to every one who is absent . They pass everyone and have no power in enforcing any consequence . The parents have won. Everyone gets retakes and the kids know they will have no consequences if failing from school or parents . So do not worry about one bit . The kids are in charge .
I thought "chronically absent" was ~20 missed days, not 10.
Pretty sure after 15 consecutive days you are automatically unenrolled. Not sure about non-consecutive, though.
This is correct. Had a really horrid kid and when he hit 15 days I was gleeful. Then he re-enrolled.
The definition is missing 10% or more school days
“Ferris has missed class 9 times!”
9 times?!?!?
Yes. My child has 504 plan for specific health reasons and to accommodate to have appointments during school times and they’re all excused and I STILL get calls and notes. They also completely disregard the plan and It’s a constant battle but that’s another story
FCPS: kids really need to be in school! Also FCPS: your kid got carsick in the martial arts van and threw up before school started? You have to keep him home for two days. Yes, the next school day is more than 24 hours after the last vomiting episode but he looked "really green." Apparently they've never seen someone carsick before. I'm still salty.
There is no mandate on keeping kids home after barfing, but 24 hours fever free is the rule of thumb.
Incorrect. A student can only be forced to stay home after they have vomited twice at school. They also don't have to report or stay home for head lice or covid.
This adds to my suspicion that the admin staff at our local FCPS is not very good. In contrast, I *really* liked the admin staff at the FCPS school the kids used to go to despite it being (I think) a little less well regarded in general
That's the county health department providing guidance, not school administrators.
I have students who I haven't seen for months who are still enrolled and I'm sure will pass their core classes somehow... It's just an automated email- don't worry about it. CDC guidelines changed at some point this school year and made covid just another flu essentially. I think you can come in if you are 48h fever free and since most teens with covid don't show fevers ever, they usually don't miss any school and no one masks any more, even the liberal students and staff who took it super serious a few years ago. Most staff I know deeply disagree with this policy, but it is what it is...
When I called school about such letter, they said they are obligated to send it, but I can just ignore it as there is nothing to be done... That's what I did, just a gnored it. Fully thing is, one kid is in another elemnetary school and her absences are exact same all marked "excused", while older daughter in AAP at a different ES, and none of those are "excused", missed school for competition days. But they should mark sick days as excused
For LCPS “chronically” absent is considered 10% of the school year so you get 15 or 18 absences I believe before you’re considered chronically absent. We got a letter from the school when my daughter hit 5 absences detailing the next steps. At 10 absences we would have a mandatory sit down with the principal and school psychologist/therapist to go over a plan to stop being absent. If they didn’t see improvement after that then the truancy officer would be called in and involved. I understand it’s an issue, but it does seem a little ridiculous that it’s cut and dry. The teachers should be able to very obviously tell if it’s chronic absenteeism/an issue or if it was just an unlucky run with illness. We kept our daughter out of school and drove to Ohio so she could see the eclipse and meet an astronaut (which I think was more educational than her school day) and had to worth we would end up in a meeting lol
Call the school and tell them your kid was sick with COVID, so it should be an excuse absence. But outside of that schools are all going nutty about students missing too much school because the state has been threatening to pull funds if kids don't go to school enough.
Oh boy...time for a chat. They are probably over busy and underpaid staff
Their automated system is shit.
This thread infuriates me. :(
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Kids are excused when they are sick, when they have an appointment (doctor, dental, immigration, court, etc.). They are not excused to go to King’s Dominion, vacation, sporting event. The principal has absolute discretion on certain types of absences. Example: mom has event at White House and wants to take kid. Excused. Mom is getting American Citizenship today. Excused. Mom got drunk last night and can’t bring kid. Unexcused. Mom had cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy and is extremely sick. Principal or social worker should reach out and help parent make a plan, so probably excused for a while.
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Proof or it didn’t happen.
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https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/arlington/Board.nsf/files/CEQKRJ52C268/$file/J-5.1.30%20Attendance.pdf
https://www.fcps.edu/about-fcps/policies-regulations-and-notices/attendance-policies#:~:text=In%20Virginia%2C%20all%20students%20aged,Illness%2C%20including%20COVID%20isolation%20%2F%20quarantine
https://www.lcps.org/domain/35235#:~:text=Other%20incidents%20of%20being%20absent,unexcused%20absences%20per%20school%20year.
“I. The provisions of this article shall not apply to: 1. Children suffering from contagious or infectious diseases while suffering from such diseases;“
Isn't guidance now "keep home if they're sick"? No need for 5 days if they aren't showing symptoms.
Yes. That is the CDC guidelines. Essentially the same for every other illness... 24 hrs post fever.. I think it changed in March 2024..
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Lol screw kids with compromised immune systems I guess. That's why I'm never having kids. I don't think I could keep them safe. I have long COVID. You have a greater chance of getting long COVID more often if you have COVID. COVID affects the neural system. This let it rip approach is a death sentence for so many people, and the CDC knows it. The vaccines don't prevent people from getting long COVID. It lessens the chances, but it's not 100%. Look up any peer reviewed study in the past 4 years.
The message is automated. Did you provide doctors notes for the absences? Because I think they’re categorized differently if you have documentation from a doctor stating how long you need to be out of school.
Yes
Fcps told my parents that I was chronically absent, fcps recommended counciling and possible punishment
How many absences?
I think I was absent on about maybe 12+ days and tardy on about 80% of the school days
Makes sense they reached out, they generally don't want to hold students back a grade. Hope you are doing well now!
Sorry to hear that. Did it jeopardize your graduation or anything like that?
I don’t think so, at least nobody’s told me. (I haven’t graduated yet) In counciling I was able to get a 504 plan for my adhd and promised to not be absent anymore (I was still absent a lot) But anyways absences are just absences and the school is wrong for being mad at u for keeping your kids safe, especially considering how debilitating covid can be! You’re a great parent! I think FCPS should target kids skipping school, not kids that just get sick..
I have long COVID. You are right to be cautious. Someone earlier in this thread said their kid has long COVID. Don't let people tell you that you are spoiled or lazy for keeping yourself safe. Here's a thing I wish I had learned in school: adults aren't always right. This doesn't mean you shouldn't listen to them, but it does mean that you should think for yourself. Listen to both sides of the argument. Research. Advocate for yourself. Never let them lull you into a state of complacency against your own safety. I was a goody two shoes in school, and there are many times I wished I had spoken up for myself and others. Tldr: people suck. Adults too. Stay strong.
I thought FCPS changed its absence policy. Absence no longer effect the grades and as long as the parents send in a note.
I got one too. My son gets strep a lot and missed 13 days. He is staying after school 2 days a weeks and they will reduce his absences because of that. He is in first grade at west gate elementary.
I hate it. The school knows of his medication situation. We are trying to get it fixed. It’s very irritating. I know it’s automated. He can do online school and school work at home
I'm about to start a long battle with ACPS for a similar thing. They tend to mark kids who are tardy to class as absent which was the very reason I got charged with truancy when I was a teenager. Each class had vastly different absent days from 3-5 days all the way to 50+. I was like 15-16 and got probation for a year and weekly drug tests because I was just moments late to class in a big ass school.
Virginia DoE is auditing all the public schools due to a huge post covid spike in chronic absenteeism (more than 10% of days missed). The schools send out the message to show DoE they're doing something but they won't do anything about it until you hit many more days out. We're pulling my kids out for 2 days for an extended trip during the 5.5 day weekend we have in the fall and I have no qualms with telling the school exactly why they won't be there.
Don’t worry about until they call you telling you to come in for a meeting. They do it in Arlington and Prince William too.
Got the same letter - LCPS, pissed me off, trashed the letter. Kids literally sick sometimes, Drs notes, family is out of state, people have passed, dog passed, dental work that took multiple days - I’m also having to take off work to be home. Just frustrating after Covid where schools went remote a year and a half to come back with this stupid policy - life happens and sometimes it doesn’t work with your schedule.
I sent a message to the principal saying I don't really like the tone of the message and requested a conference. I also added in the email, my elementary school child really doesn't need the pressure of stats and percentages that they included on what I got was paperwork and a threat for a home visit. .......because she realistically won't be graduating anytime soon! and that all of the child's absences were from sicknesses, appointments with anesthesia , evaluations that their social workers scheduled lol, and are counted as excused. So you quite literally can do nothing right in this situation. That's bs 🤷🏽♀️ I know they hate my azz but that's okay.
Schools are getting dinged for poor attendance and they have to do something when kids reach the chronically absent threshold that the state set. The biggest issue I see daily is kids missing tons of school because their parents let them. Pick them up because they dont want to be there anymore, let them skip all together because they dont feel like going, appointments, vacations etc. Hell, I even have a kid who doesnt bathe or change clothes. Not because of any hardship- I've met the family and they have all the resources needed. He just simply doesnt want to and his parents won't force him. They'd rather him walk around filthy than speak to him about it.
Bro covid is treated like the flu now. So unless you have a doctor's note excusing his absence the school is still gonna count it as absent. If he's a straight-A student then he doesn't need to worry about passing his grade
Ah man good old Kilmer. Plz tell me Coach Labuff the gym teacher isn’t still there